A Hurley woman received a conditional discharge for embezzling nearly $20,000 from her nearly 90-year-old grandmother while serving as her caretaker and will only have to pay back $7,600.

Doris Sierra, 47, was initially charged in January 2018 with 10 criminal charges, mostly felonies. She was charged with two counts of forgery, each third- and fourth-degree felonies; four counts of fraud, a third- and fourth-degree felony and a misdemeanor and petty misdemeanor; and four counts of embezzlement, a third- and fourth-degree felony and a misdemeanor and petty misdemeanor.

According to the affidavit for arrest, between March 2014 through November 2017, Doris Sierra wrote dozens of checks to herself and to cash and signed her grandmother’s name and used the money for her own use. The thefts came to light when a member of the family noticed that Doris had been writing checks to herself and signing her grandmother’s name and after further investigation, the signatures on the bottom of the checks did not match, and Dora, who died May 8 at age 90, confirmed that was not her signature.

Over the course of the three years, Doris Sierra wrote more than 40 checks to herself out of her grandmother’s account totaling $19,050. Most of the checks were written out to Doris Sierra and were for between $100 and $300, but several were for more than $1,000 and one for nearly $3,000 and one check was made out to Doris Peru.

Doris Sierra previously had power of attorney for her grandmother but that was revoked when the thefts were discovered by family, and a criminal trespass warning was scheduled to be issued for her for her grandmother’s house but law enforcement could not locate her at the time. Also according to the affidavit for arrest, a family member told law enforcement this was not the first time they caught Doris stealing from her grandmother’s bank account. They said they had caught the year before — in 2012 and 2013 — but they felt sorry for her and didn’t want to do anything about it.

Last week, on Oct. 16, Sierra pleaded guilty to one count of forgery and one count of fraud, both third-degree felonies — the most serious level of charges. According to a plea and disposition agreement, all of the other charges were dropped and she will only have to pay restitution of $7,600 — less than half of the amount she stole — and if she successfully completes 36 months of supervised probation, she will have her record wiped clean and will not have a conviction for the felony thefts she admitted to committing.

Doris Sierra appears to have no other criminal record. A charge of aggravated assault with great bodily harm was dismissed by the prosecution in December 2016.